You’ve studied books and microfilm on your main character and his/her environs. You are beginning to know your subject fairly well, probably well beyond the average student of your general subject. It’s time to introduce yourself to some specialists, mostly academics. You should get to know the librarians and professors in your subject area. What else do you need to know? Make a list of what other specialists might be able to offer you. If you’ve already contacted some of these people to request information, tell them you plan to visit and give the dates. Ask if they might be available to meet you.
If a trip to your story site is what you have in mind – and it’s definitely advisable – keep a notebook and take photos to record who you meet, what you see, and what you learn. When you return, send thank yous to the people who helped you.
When you get home, begin at once to plot and draw up characterizations – if you haven’t already done so. Write descriptions of the way things look now and how they would have looked to someone in the time period you’ve chosen. Differentiate between your characters how various scenes you’ve envisioned in your story would have appeared to each one.
Get clear in your mind what point of view you intend to use. Will you be speaking from the pov of the main character or from a variation on a 3rd person pov? Test this if possible in several scenes you envision and work on that angle for a while. If you’ve found a book that you think can serve in some way as a model, read it at least twice studying the pov and the method the author used to break up the chapters.
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